‘Tareekh pe tareekh’: Why Sunny Deol’s absence from Presidential elections has angered the BJP

The Presidential elections are done and dusted and Droupadi Murmu has emerged the winner, becoming the first tribal President of the country.

As per the Election Commission data, Murmu polled more than 64 per cent of all votes, leaving her rival, Yashwant Sinha with a mere 36 per cent share.

However, it has been reported that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is quite unhappy with Gurdaspur MP Sunny Deol.

For those wondering what’s the link between the actor-turned-politician and President-elect Droupadi Murmu, read on.

Missing in action

On 18 July, MPs and MLAs across the country participated in the historic process of electing India’s next President.
The Election Commission later reported a turnout of 99.12 per cent.

This included Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and even former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was wheelchair-bound, turning up to cast their votes.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who has tested positive for COVID-19, also turned up at room number 63 of the Parliament House in New Delhi in a full PPE kit to cast her vote.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Power Minister RK Singh cast their votes for the Presidential polls in PPE kits as they are suffering from COVID-19 pic.twitter.com/lwqHIuHV2O

— ANI (@ANI) July 18, 2022

However, there were others who didn’t turn up to cast their election — the EC reported that a total of eight MPs were absent for the election.

One of them was famous actor-turned-Gurdaspur MP Sunny Deol. It is reported that he is abroad for medical treatment.

The others who didn’t make it were BJP’s Sanjay Dhotre, who is in the intensive care unit at a hospital, Shiv Sena’s Gajanan Kirtikar, who is also hospitalised.

The other absentees were BSP leader Atul Singh, who is in jail, AIMIM leader Imtiyaz Jaleel, Congress MP Mohammad Sadiq, Samajwadi Party’s Shafiqur Rahman Barq and Dravida Munnetra Kazagham’s TR Paarivendhar.

Where is Sunny Deol?

Sunny Deol’s absenteeism at the presidential election hasn’t been well received.

In fact, the BJP has been miffed with the Gurdaspur MP as he has pulled a vanishing act on his constituency.

In the 2019 general elections, Sunny Deol had pulled off a major political win when he defeated then senior Congress leader and favourite Sunil Jakhar.

The Indian Express reports that Deol has stayed away from Gurdaspur since September 2020 and a simple look at his Twitter timeline reveals his last political entry was back on 31 March when he tweeted about meeting Union minister Piyush Goyal.

आज दिल्ली में केंद्रीय वाणिज्य,उद्योग और कपड़ा मंत्री श्री @PiyushGoyal जी से मिलना हुआ । इस मुलाकात के दौरान धारीवाल वूलन मिल कर्मियों की लगभग 39 महीनों से बकाया सैलरी जारी करने के विषय पर उनसे चर्चा हुई । जिस पर उन्होने इस मांग को जल्द पूरा करने का आश्वासन दिया। pic.twitter.com/Bfe6KVl1B0

— Sunny Deol (@iamsunnydeol) March 31, 2022

The actor has earned the wrath of the party’s grassroots workers and leaders as he has remained ‘unavailable’ or ‘too busy’ to meet them.

During the campaigning for the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections too, Deol remained conspicuous despite the fact that he was listed as a star campaigner for the party in the state.

Deol didn’t even show up for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Pathankot.

The party performed poorly in the elections — winning only two seats with state BJP president Ashwani Sharma winning from Pathankot and Jangi Lal Mahajan registering victory from Mukerian.

The MP’s non-appearance has angered the leaders that they hope that the 2024 general elections be the end of his political career.

“Party leaders hope that Deol’s political career will end like his father Dharmendra’s and he will not return to claim a ticket in 2024. This will give a chance to local BJP leaders who were rejected last time as Sunny Deol parachuted in,” a local leader was quoted as telling Indian Express.

His absence has also been picked up by the Congress in 2021 and they put up “missing person” posters with the MP’s photo.

Punjab: 'Missing' posters of Sunny Deol, BJP MP from Gurdaspur constituency, seen in Pathankot pic.twitter.com/SHGpMsxlaq

— ANI (@ANI) January 13, 2020

‘Gumshuda ki talash MP Sunny Deol (Missing MP Sunny Deol)’ posters were seen on the walls of the Pathankot Railway station.

The MP also has a poor Lok Sabha attendance record — in the Budget Session of 2019, he recorded an attendance of only 19 per cent. His highest attendance, 65 per cent, was seen in the Winter session the same year.

The Winter Session of 2021 saw him recording an attendance of zero per cent.

A look at the MP’s social networking feeds show that he has been around and his last tweet, which was posted on 21 July, congratulates Droupadi Murmu on her win.

Congratulations and best wishes to Smt @DroupadiMurmu on the thumping victory as the 15th President of our country, you’re an inspiring and a shining example of empowerment!

— Sunny Deol (@iamsunnydeol) July 21, 2022

It seems that Gurdaspur will have to keep waiting for their ‘tareekh’ to see their MP back and working for them.

With inputs from agencies

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